Sea Otter 2012 - First Look: Mavics new 29er Wheel lineup

Mavic introduces a Line of 29er Wheels, finally.

With the exponential growth of 29" wheels in the mountain bike industry, most wheel manufacturers were quick to adopt and develop high-end 29" wheels. Mavic was a little bit slower to react though and has been a bit behind in the big wheel market, but for good reason. "Making a quality 29er wheel is much harder than just making the current 26" wheels larger in diameter" said Mavic Mountain Bike Product Manager Manuel Berschandy "A lot of development was needed to create a wheel we could be 100 percent confident with."

The result of years of R&D is the new 29er wheel line up, which features 29" versions of the Crossmax SLR, Crossmax ST, and the budget oriented Crossride. Most of the development though we spent working with racers on the XC oriented SLR wheel. "Finding a balance between lightweight, durability, and important ride charateristics was the greatest challenge." says Berschandy. "A 29" wheel is 39% less stiff than a similarly manufactured 26" wheel while weighing about 10% more."

Mavic's new 29er wheels look promising though, with competitive weights, reasonable pricing and a surprising amount of versatility. Retailing around $1000 the top-end, XC oriented SLR weighs in at 1620g and will be the first to hit the market in June. The trail oriented ST at $825 and budget friendly $299 Crossride weigh in at 1710g and 2020g respectively and are forcasted to hit the market in late summer.

If the 29" versions of these wheels are anything like the 26" versions, we are pretty sure they will be top notch. What about the buzz around the possible 650b trend? "We have nothing yet. But it is definitely on our radar" Said Zack Vestal, Mavics US Communication Manager. Stay tuned for a detailed review of the new wheels from Mavic.